A Divided Heart And Mind (Mark 6:14-28)

Herod believed the accounts of history, Scripture and the power of how God worked through the prophets to the point that he believed John the Baptist was Elijah a fact that the Jews of the day did not recognize.  He also believed in the resurrection of the dead.  However because of his heart, the beliefs of his mind did not affect his actions.  Herod is an excellent example of a double minded man: his mind was telling him to do one thing, but the longing of his heart would not allow it.  He tried to straddle the fence and in the end, his heart won.  In reality, the heart always wins. 

Herod's heart longed for power, lust and wealth and because of that, his actions always worked to bring those things to him in an attempt to satisfy his heart.  As I meditated on this, I asked myself, is my heart divided?  Are my actions working to bring something to myself other than that which would bring glory to God?  If so, how can I change it or better yet, how can I keep it from happening?

The answer is simple, yet difficult.  Simple in that the solution is a small act or condition, but difficult in that it is a battle to perform.  The solution is to guard your heart.  In John 14:15, Jesus said that we are to keep his commandments.  Keep has the idea of "to watch" or "guard" and what God wants us to do is watch or guard our hearts from wandering away from him.  If we are successful at this level, our actions will never be a problem.

When we struggle in our hearts because of a conflict between what we believe and what our hearts long for, repentance is the solution.  When there is a struggle between belief and the heart's longing, the heart will win, but if we immediately respond to the work that God may do in our hearts, we have the power to repent.  The scripture tell us that God gives us repentance (II Timothy 2:25).  The reason that we have devotion time with him is so that he can give us what we need to keep or regain the victory.  Devotions are a time of communion and not a task of duty.

So today, ask The Lord to reveal to you the condition of your heart and to give you what you need to be victorious.  Prayers like that always get answered